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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumskaren silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974)
Karen Silkwood
Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activist known for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety of workers in a nuclear facility. She worked at the
Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. She joined the union and became an activist on behalf of issues of health and safety at the plant as a member of the union's negotiating team, the first woman to have that position at Kerr-McGee. In the summer of 1974, she testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns.
For three days in November, she was found to have high levels of contamination on her person and in her home. While driving to a meeting that month with David Burnham, a New York Times journalist, and Steve Wodka, an official of her union's national office, she died in a car accident under mysterious circumstances.
Her family sued Kerr-McGee on behalf of her estate. In what was the longest trial up until then in Oklahoma history, the jury found Kerr-McGee liable for the plutonium contamination of Silkwood, and awarded substantial damages. These were reduced on appeal, but the case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1979, which upheld the damages verdict. Before another trial took place, Kerr-McGee settled with the estate out of court for US $1.38 million, while not admitting liability.
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Later that evening, Silkwood's body was found in her car, which had run off the road and struck a culvert. The car contained no documents. She was pronounced dead at the scene in what was believed to be an accident. The trooper at the scene remembers that he found one or two tablets of the sedative methaqualone (Quaalude) in the car, and he remembers finding marijuana. The police report indicated that she fell asleep at the wheel. The coroner found 0.35 milligrams of methaqualone per 100 milliliters of blood at the time of her death an amount almost twice the recommended dosage for inducing drowsiness.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)I drive on the road she died on frequently. I thought the movie version was pretty darn good.
speedoo
(11,229 posts)Meryl Streep as Silkwood, co starring Cher, Kurt Russell and directed by Mike Nichols.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Always thought the accident was very suspicious since the documents were missing from her car. Very sad whoever was responsible was never brought to justice.
RIP Karen Silkwood you will always be remembered as a hero to me and the labor movement.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)liberalhistorian
(20,819 posts)I have never had any doubt that she was murdered, the documents then taken from her car, and those responsible have never been held to account for it and likely never will. They knew how to make a murder look like an accident. May she always be remembered.
niyad
(113,552 posts)where it occurred was suddenly repaved--thus obliterating whatever marks and evidence were there.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)Whisp
(24,096 posts)that sounds a lot like a 'conspiracy theory'.
let's remember that the next time someone who is just blueskying about stuff gets called names and asked if they believe the moon landing happened.
avebury
(10,952 posts)who was friends with one of the people that found Silkwood's body. According to my co-worker, her friend was too scared to ever talk about what he knew.